Greek Gladiator
by Myworksofwonder
Summary: One boy born from Greece has been taken away from the town he knew to become a roman slave. He shall fight more than just other people in the arena, he will have to find his family and free them from their bonds of slavery.
1. Chapter 1

Boredom. I never thought that boredom was what I would feel at the end of my life. Waiting in the stone room, in my fighting robe over my shoulder and golden plate legs hooked around my feet. The helmet was pressuring my head. I am a gladiator, born a slave. Die a savage fighting for freedom.

My name is Orion, named after the constellation. My mother always told me that I was destined for great things, my father had thought otherwise.

"He is only a boy, since if we lose to the Romans then by Hades doom we will become slaves." He had said one night during the war. The stars were clouded with smoke from an oncoming warship. I prayed to Zeus and his mighty gods for strength.

My sister Akila, had been adopted. We had found her on one of the streets of a conquered city. She always said that fate may bring doom but after doom there is relief and after relief there was happiness. She died from what we call goat's death. A rare condition that filled the lungs with water. Which when you tried to talk it would make a gurgle that was kind of like a goats baa. I had told her to stay out of the rain, but she went out to have fun with her friends.

I looked at Akila's portrait. I smiled. _After doom is relief, after relief comes happiness._

The next day there was siege. The Romans had taken camp on the conquered harbor. The Romans were good friends with Greeks, or so I thought. They usually came on trade frigates, but today the warship came. **The dreaded Roman warship**. I had fought hard that day, for a ten year old. My family was taken during the fighting and when I came home from market the house was empty, things were smashed around, my sister's portrait was unharmed other than the small blotches of blood. I heard a crash and roman soldiers rushed down the street. They approached every house, either demanding tribute from survivors or checking that there is no one that has not been killed or taken slave, they finally approached my house

"Carpo puer!" The Roman in the front seemed to say, I had learned much Latin, but in the bloodlust of my mind I had no desire to translate, only to kill the takers of my family. They came in with spears, which my family's axe could handle, no problem. Somehow though, they took me prisoner. I struggled, adrenaline pumping. The roman put a rag on my mouth that smelled funny I suddenly fell to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello? Boy? Wake up boy!" I squirmed. I felt at peace at my sleeping state. Never again did I want to see the light, I wanted to die, die, die today, yesterday and tomorrow. But with waking, I prepared to face the world. I flicked my eyes open. The light was strong, and for once I shunned Zeus's light...

"Boy, oh you idiot!" The voice from before said again, I heard a slap and a small cry.

"I'm sorry sir!" Another said.

"Well stop complaining and blow out a few of those damned candles! I'm sorry boy, we have new roman soldiers..." The voice grew louder. The voice's body touched my back. I shot up and threw a punch at him.

"Woah, easy I'm just checking for wounds! Since if you're in any bad condition they'll make you fight. Those damn people." I could now see to whom the voice belonged to. A man who was about 27, and he had dark brown hair like mine. Finally after him doing a bit of mumbling I concluded that he was a swearer. Not suprising when you work for the whole roman army though.

"Where in Atlas's kingdom am I?" I asked, I had less of a voice than usual. My legs felt like crap. My arms felt like crap, I felt like crap. The man gave me a bit of room to stretch. My chest was bare but I was clothed with a small waist-robe. I stood my arms out and let my muscles relax. I then took a breath and lied down. And let the doctors careful cold hands examine my legs. He touched my left leg and I winced. The pain couldn't be ignored.

"You're in Rome, many miles from your Greek city." He said, he noticed me wince. "Damn, why couldn't they have just left you alone on that barge. By the way, what would your name be?"

"O-Orion," I stumbled. The scent of the rag was still in my nose, and every time I breathed I started getting dizzy and disoriented repeatedly.

"Like after the constellation?" He asked. I nodded, and he supported my back with his hand, urging me to a sitting position. He then examined my back. "You're back looks fine, but your leg is broken. I'll have to tell the captain that I'll need a few more days. For now you can stay here. You have something about you that… Well I can't explain it, but there's just something with you. Oh listen to me babbling. Stay where you are, and I'll prepare a cast for your leg." He said and left the room.

I looked around the room and saw that it was a small marble room, which explained why everything was so cold. I was sitting on a black marble table with a giant pillow that covered the surface. The waist-robe was the only thing that kept me from being freezing cold.

The man came back into the room with a wooden brace with a padded sole in one hand, and a bowl of paste and rags on the other. He came to the table, knelt, and began to fix up my leg.

"So, do you believe in gods?" I asked him.

"Well of course I do my dear boy. Why, don't you?" He asked me.

"Yes sir, it's just that… well, there's other people in my city that don't believe in the gods… There's very few, but I just wonder…" I said.

"You wonder, if we are the only ones out in life?" He guessed.

"Well, yes. The people were mostly crazy astronomers but…"

"Listen to me," He stood up and looked me in the eyes, "There is no one that is insane, or crazy, or a lunatic. There's no normal. Normal is our thoughts of matching the majority." He said, still staring. He slapped the polished black marble. "That's why Rome is a successful empire, that is why Octavian brought us together. Because we weren't the majority, because we don't fall into ruin. It's because we know what's right, and how to do the right things." His face was red, he stopped his stare and kneeled again to continue on my leg, which felt stiff, I looked down at my leg and saw that the pasted strips were as hard as rock.

Minutes later my cast was completely dry, and the doctor had shown me to a bunk behind the marble room, the bunk was just horrible. The pillow was stuffed with itchy straw that just made my neck feel worse than my leg. But it was still a bunk. In almost an instant, I fell to sleep.


End file.
